The Cannon
by Bardicsidhe
Summary: “You couldn’t have known how much I loved you, could you? But I loved you then, and there is no love like the love of a horse." Two of the boys work together in a battle between Japanese feudal house-lords, but not quite the way you might think.


Title: The Cannon

Chapters: 1

Author: Scylla the Healer

Finished: December 5, 2003

Rating: PG-13 For violent descriptions and some adult subject matter.

Fiction From: _Yu-Gi-Oh!_

Pairings: You'll figure it out soon enough. Shonen-ai.

Warning: AU. Past-Life. Violence and angst. Deathfic with a happy ending, strangely enough.

Summary: "You couldn't have known how much I loved you, could you? But I loved you then, and there is no love like the love of a horse." Two of the boys work together in a battle between Japanese feudal house-lords, but not quite the way you might think. One of the most unusual AU fics I've ever put together…but then…anyone who's read my other work knows about me and past lives. And yep, this is another one.

Author's note: These characters don't belong to me…and…and…you know the drill. And *facepalm* Please tell me that I don't need to tell you that the description does _not _mean this is squick. Just making sure, however. And just so my imouto-chan DT Maxwell can gloat…^_~…all of this was written while inspired by the Trans-Siberian Orchestra's _Christmas Eve Sarajevo_. If I had the money, I'd buy you all copies of that song, my minions!

- ~ -

You couldn't have known, could you?

           Not with a hundred other beasts at your beck and call. With a hundred other pairs of watching eyes and steely hooves to guard you while you ride. It wasn't _done_. It was not supposed to happen. But I was not like the others. And I think you knew _that_, whether you knew _this._

           But when you thrust the familiar heavy saddle onto my back and pressed the cold bit between my teeth this day, before all of the sweat and noise and fear and blood…dare I think that you warmed the bar in your hands, first? Of course you did. You were my master, and I loved you. And there is no kind of love like the love of a horse.

           You would find out soon just how much I loved you. Oh, yes.

           I fancied you cut a fine figure, there like a rigid pikestaff in my saddle, the fluttering black of your robes melting into the burnished dark of my hide. Dark hair, drawn into a severe tail at the back of your head, thrust up by its bindings to fall like the proud arc of my own tail. Your katana like a lick of tethered lightning at your side. 

Yes, I _am _proud of you.

You, of all of them, were _made _to ride a horse. 

And I was proud to bear you. 

I, banal creature that I was, could not remember the disputes that brought the two great lords to war, and I didn't care. I simply knew that soon, you and I would go together with others of our kind. That you would do what you said you must, and I would carry you through it all and keep you safe.

           And I _gloried _in my work. I alone was your savior…while you were noble and brave; I guarded you with every ounce of strength, every fiber of my being and every drop of my courage. 

           And then the dawn…and the bloody rage of battle.

           The clash of steel, and the frightened screams of horse and man rang together among it like the chords of a freakish sitar.

           The smell of fear. The stench of sweat and dung.

           The scent of blood…

           The reek of death.

           And all I cared for, all I _focused _upon was your safety. To bear you…to keep my feet beneath me and not slip…to bring my hooves from the ground and strike with the coil of a snake at your command…to bite. You were a refugee upon my back, held safe from the floodtide of stinking death all around us, and still your fierce sword licked out with all the furor of cats' claws, bringing down all who rose against you with a spray of warm blood to anoint my foaming flanks.

           Oh, it was _good._

           I didn't understand the pain until it cut across my senses with the force of a tsunami. 

There was only a deafening blast.

A moan torn from your throat.

A great heavy something ripped into my barrel and lifted me from my feet. 

And then we were rocketing through space.

It seemed to last for ages…

           But it was over in an instant. With double thuds and soft splatters we returned to earth.

           I felt a _dark _heavy something settling over me, then; a languor, and could not find the strength to stand. But I _had _to. I _loved _you! You were my charge, and I would protect you at the cost of my very life!

           But you were beside me, then…somehow, you were still at my side, or you had returned. You crawled close and lay panting, your head against my neck, my one eye meeting one of yours.

           My beloved master…

           Were you in pain? Your eyes were tight with it, face pale and mouth taut with gritted teeth. And the blood…I did not know if it was mine or yours…or ours…but it bedewed your cheek and hand.

           You stroked my neck and said soft words to me, as the noise filtered to a standstill. It was quiet at last, silence punctuated only by the soft groans of humans and animals around us.

           The sky was so blue…so very blue…

           I did not understand…

           But you were with me, and you were safe, and that was all that mattered. My eye slid slowly closed, deeper with each shallow breath. I could no longer feel the pain. It didn't burn anymore…I couldn't feel the hard press of ground and bloody grass tickling my legs. All I could feel was your hand, slowly, slowly stroking my neck. My ear twitched to the cadence of your voice, as you spoke to me.

           My beloved master…

           _Ai shiteru…_

But they came for you, and pulled us apart, and I was too weak to stop them.

           What did they do to you? I screamed for you; threatened them, but my words were no more than an angry hiss. Why did they want you?

           "Don't take him," I begged, and screamed, "if you take him, if you hurt him, I'll kill you!"

           They didn't listen.

           Humans never do.

           And so I despaired. I grieved for you, and grieved the loss of your touch as the last thing that I knew…my mind grew dim; thoughts slurred together…

           All I could do was listen to your footsteps struggling to reach me and failing, and whispered my last…beseeching _you_, since none of them would listen to me…

…And only _you_ of all of them could understand me.

_Don't leave me alone..._

           "Stay…"

- ~ -

           "Stay…"

           Green eyes slid open in surprise at the barely uttered word, and Ryuuji dragged up from layers of sleep as the pleading request murmured forth again. 

Strong fingers bumped vaguely against the covers swathed tightly against his ribcage, and then again, as though they sought purchase.

           He rolled over onto his back. Offered a hand of his own to the one in search of touch, and turned his face to study the features of the one sharing his bed. Hiroto's expression was one of the unguarded throes of sleep, emotion writ there plainly for his lover to see. His brow was deeply etched as though twisted in some unseen agony, lips parted, dragging shallow breaths as the familiar dark eyes twitched and rolled beneath their lids.

Caught and held fast in the grip of a nightmare.

           Hiroto's seeking fingertips bumped against Ryuuji's, caught and held fast, and his breathing slowly quieted.

He whispered once again, with the naïve innocence of a beseeching child.

           "Stay…"

           Ryuuji's heart swelled, and he turned again, this time to face his lover, and pressed the warm length of his body to Hiroto's inexplicably icy one.

           "Shh…I'm here, baby…I'm not leaving…"

           The other's arms found their way around his waist, and Ryuuji let them, though not without a concerned glance darted up to Hiroto's face.

           The taller man heaved a great sigh, and at last was peaceful again. For long moments, they simply lay tangled together, Ryuuji's expression wide-eyed and alert, watching carefully as his companion slept on. But as all seemed well again, in a few minutes, and the green-eyed man was finally surrendering to sleep, when the other's deep voice hissed softly between his lips.

           "_Ai shiteru_…_senpai_…'Yuuji…"

~ _Owari_ ~


End file.
